Circling Care Around You
Have you experienced persistent pain over six weeks or more? 1
“Circle it” and come see us.
As a regulated health professional with knowledge and expertise in spine, muscle and joint conditions, a chiropractor can help diagnose and provide you with the care you need to manage your arthritis and its pain.
That’s why we invite you to visit a chiropractor and show them where and when your nagging pain continues to occur. Is it your knee after a few rounds of golf? Or maybe your hip continues to ache after leaning down to hug your loved one?
David Rennick wants to make sure other patients suffering with arthritis have a shorter journey to diagnosis and pain management therapies. David’s experience from the onset of arthritis to an eventual ankylosing spondylitis diagnosis, is one many other Ontarians are currently going through.
“As a young man dealing with arthritis, you just want to try anything that you think might help. Like putting yourself with a group of specialists, who are willing to try a variety of things to help you.”
“I keep learning. My chiropractor advised me to understand my body, to know where, or what to do when the pain is difficult.”
“I don’t want to even think about what it would have been like without my doctor’s chiropractic treatments and exercise regime.”
A Key Part of Your Circle of Care
Did you know that one in five Canadians are just like you trying to manage their arthritis and wondering if they will once again feel better about their overall health?³ For many, arthritis becomes yet one more health problem to juggle while trying to live their best life.
With more than 100 different types of arthritis, a chiropractor can help you navigate when looking for care options. Like your family doctor, a chiropractor works as part of your circle of care to assess, diagnose and help you manage your arthritis. Chiropractic care also helps alleviate arthritis symptoms, so you can move through your day with less pain.
Start with Assessment and Diagnosis
Your first step is to find out exactly what type of arthritis is causing your pain. When arriving at a chiropractic clinic in need of help, your chiropractor will ask you questions and perform tests to better understand your current health, as well as your spine, muscles, joints or related nervous system issues. Ontario chiropractors will do an initial assessment based on your symptoms.
Osteoarthritis (OA) represents the largest form of arthritis than all others combined.
OA is a progressive disease of a person’s joints, including the tough elastic material called cartilage, which covers and protects the bones. When OA occurs, it leads to a breakdown of the joint cartilage and underlying bone, which causes a combination of pain, stiffness and swelling.
In other forms of arthritis, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), your chiropractor will often recommend seeking further diagnostics, such as additional tests. Your chiropractor can also reach out to other providers in your circle of care to help attain these additional diagnostics.
Treatment & Collaborative Care
For a number of conditions, such as pain associated with arthritis, the advisable approach is for your chiropractor to work with other health care professionals as a member of your circle of care to diagnose and treat you. However, with other conditions, such as low back pain, chiropractic care is the primary method of treatment.
Using the best available evidence and their clinical expertise, your chiropractor will collaboratively work with members of your circle of care team to assess and diagnose what type of arthritis is causing your pain. Once they have made a diagnosis, they will coordinate with your care team to develop a treatment plan that meets your needs and preferences.
As your treatment progresses, they will continue to communicate with your medical doctor and other members of your circle of care team, when appropriate, to support your ongoing care.
Circle it: A discussion on how chiropractors can help you manage arthritis
From diagnosis to care planning, patients are beginning to see a real difference in their lives when they have a chiropractor as part of their circle of care, as demonstrated in this Facebook Live event (October 14, 2021).
During this event, Dave Rennick, a patient with inflammatory arthritis, joined chiropractor Dr. Amy Brown for a revealing and personal discussion about his journey from chronic pain back to living a productive and active lifestyle.
Spine, Muscle & Joint Experts
In 2019, seven in ten Ontarians who used chiropractic services are satisfied with their experience. 2 Chiropractors are joint, muscle and spine experts and have the experience to provide this knowledge and collaboratively work with your circle of care team.
Need More Info on Arthritis & Chiropractic Care?
Having the right information is essential when managing a debilitating disease like arthritis. For more practical info, visit these pages:
Tips to Help You Manage Your Arthritis
- RheumInfo – The leading rheumatology resource for patients and physicians
- Helping Individuals with Arthritis Improve their Quality of Life
- Living with Arthritis: How Chiropractic Care Helps Alleviate Arthritis Symptoms
- Staying Active Indoors – Winter Tips for Older Adults (with arthritis)
- Use It or Lose It: Exercise Therapy Can Ease Arthritic Pain
- Winter Tips for Seniors with Arthritis
Patient Experiences
Ontario patients with arthritis or a related condition share their experiences with chiropractic care:
- Learning how to cope with chronic pain helped Domenic to keep moving forward
- How chiropractic care helped David manage his severe arthritis
- Biking, walking, and interval training a reality again for Jane, who has spinal stenosis
- Tom and Colleen are aging well with the right exercise program and care (both of them have osteoarthritis)
- With manual therapy, strengthening and stretching exercises, Brian stood up to lumbar spinal stenosis
How can we help you?
- Do you (or a relative or friend) have persistent pain in your hip, knee, spine, joints or elsewhere that is or may be a type of arthritis?
- Do you have a question for us or one of our chiropractic members about arthritis?
- Is there something about arthritis and chiropractic care that you wonder about?
To confidentially ask us or one of our chiropractic members about arthritis and how a chiropractor can help, send us an email: askaboutarthritis@chiropractic.on.ca
Please note: Protecting your privacy is our top priority. We will never share your personal information or feedback with anyone. View our Privacy Policy here.